Community Corner

Last Week's Storm Caused Water Scare

Both villages had to switch aqueduct sources and Sleepy Hollow was to a point where fire hydrants weren't in service.

Last week, while many Tarrytown residents were worried about flooding, both villages were carefully monitoring a precarious water situation.

During the heavy rains, the water in the Catskill Aqueduct became contaminated and was shut down for 72 hours by the operating agency, The New York City Department of Environmental Protection.

The shutdown caused both villages to scramble for water alternatives, while Sleepy Hollow ended up declaring a water emergency.

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"It was a crisis for the village for sure," Sleepy Hollow Village Administrator Anthony Giaccio said."We begged, borrowed and stole water to keep the village functioning in that 72-hour period."

The Catskill Aqueduct is the main source of water for both Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow. It was closed due to high levels of turbidity (cloudiness of the water). According to Sleepy Hollow's Director of Public Works, Richard Gross, if the aqueduct wasn't shut down, residents from the Kensico Dam to New York City would have had to boil their water for sterilization.

Find out what's happening in Tarrytown-Sleepy Hollowwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

While the shutdown affected Westchester residents, New York City is supplied by another two water sources and could afford to close the Catskill for a period of time.

"Unfortunately, right now we're at the mercy of New York City," Sleepy Hollow Mayor Ken Wray said. "It's their water and they will literally tell us, 'We're shutting you down.' Tarrytown is in the same boat."

Tarrytown switched to pumping water from Greenburgh (which has connections into the Croton Aqueduct) as a primary source of water.

"We were getting ours from Greenburgh, but there just wasn't enough to go around," Tarrytown Village Administrator Michael Blau said. "Were we close to a water emergency? No. But we were close to having to figure out what to do because our water levels were so low."

Blau said the village has the first right to water coming from Greenburgh, which impacted Sleepy Hollow, which was also trying to take in water from Greenburgh.

"The problem was we were pulling more," Blau said. "Once Sleepy Hollow communicated their needs with us we slowed it down a bit."

Sleepy Hollow ended up borrowing more than 1.3 million gallons from Greenburgh, 232,000 gallons from Briarcliff Manor and an additional 609,000 gallons from the United Water Line that feeds into Briarcliff Manor. Sleepy Hollow also drained it's 800,000 gallon water tank reserve.

"We borrowed well over 2 million gallons plus the 800,00o reserve we had," Gross said.

On Sunday, the village declared a water emergency. During a water emergency, large water users such as Phelps Hostpital, the school district and large apartment buildings, are put on notification to use bottled water and to conserve water at all costs. The Sleepy Hollow Fire Department was also on notice that they would have to go to tanker operations and draw water from the Hudson River in case of fire because there wasn't enough water in the village.

"We went down to a half foot of water in our reservoir, that's about 30,ooo gallons," Gross said. "Literally, we were on empty. All the hydrants were out of service, you couldn't take any water out of the hydrants or you would have drained the system entirely."

The Catskill gradually came back online on Monday, and by Monday afternoon, both villages had their reserves replenished. However, the incident highlighted the pressing need for a new, multi-million dollar water storage tank that would hold over 3.5 million gallons of water for Sleepy Hollow residents.

The current 800,000-gallon tank in Sleepy Hollow was built in 1925 and will only supply enough water to the village for 10 to 12 hours, Gross said. New York State has mandated that municipalities should have at least 24 hours worth of water reserves on hand.

"It's vital the village constructs a new resevoir," Gross said.

The village has narrowed down two locations: Phelps Hostpital as well as the Rockefeller Preserve (the site of the current water tank). However, Giaccio said the village also needs to look at conserving more water.

It's a point that the chair of the Sleepy Hollow Environmental Advisory Council, David Bedell, said should be particularly emphasized in light of recent events.

"We can't take water for granted.  The Village has only a 12-hour emergency supply," Bedell said. "We were lucky this time and the Department of Public Works was able to get water from other sources.  We can make our emergency supply last longer by installing low-flow faucets, shower heads, and toilets, and by avoiding waste. 

"If many of us make these small changes, we'll have a bigger margin of safety in the next emergency."


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